Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep Yadav (Credits: BCCI/IPL)

Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir has expressed his bewilderment over chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav getting retained by the franchise ahead of IPL 2021.

Kolkata Knight Riders released just five players- Tom Banton, Chris Green, Nikhil Naik, M Siddharth, and Siddhesh Lad- from the 2020 squad, and not seeing Kuldeep Yadav’s name in the list of released players has come as a huge surprise for everyone including Gautam Gambhir.

Kuldeep Yadav
Credits: BCCI

The reason being Kuldeep Yadav has never been given a consistent run by the franchise, especially in the past two seasons. Yadav has played just nine games for KKR out of the possible 28 in the last edition of the IPL and with Sunil Narine locking one spot and Varun Chakravarthy taking over the mantle from the chinaman in the last season, it looks unlikely that the latter will get many chances in the upcoming season as well.

Speaking on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’, Gautam Gambhir said that he would have preferred to see Kuldeep Yadav play for other franchises where he would have got more opportunities as compared to what he gets at KKR as he feels that not featuring for a franchise on a consistent basis can hamper his international prospects.

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“I am a little surprised about Kuldeep Yadav being retained because he did not get the opportunities. I would have wanted to see Kuldeep Yadav go to a franchise where he gets an opportunity to play.” Gautam Gambhir said.

“Because if you are playing for India and not part of your franchise’s playing XI, it is somewhere or the other be harmful to your career,” he added.

 

Kuldeep Yadav should have himself asked for his release: Gautam Gambhir

Kuldeep Yadav, Gautam Gambhir
Credits: IPL.

Gambhir further urged the Knight Riders thinktank to give Kuldeep Yadav more opportunities now that they have retained him. He also added that Kuldeep should have himself asked for his release.

“Now that you have retained him, they should play him. Otherwise, I feel Kuldeep Yadav should have himself said that if he is not in their scheme of things, he should be given an opportunity to go and play somewhere else.” Gautam Gambhir said,

The two-time IPL winner signed off by saying that had Kuldeep entered the auction, a plethora of franchises would have gone for him.

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“If Kuldeep Yadav had come into the auction, a lot of franchises would have gone for him,” he added.

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